Imran Khan and his big bang governance
Irrespective of whether one agrees with Imran Khan and to what extent, he is the only political leader who has done some homework on policies on vital issues. What the PTI considers the crux of the matter is governance. Imran Khan thinks that most of the problems have been created by corrupt politicians. What is needed is to replace them with an honest, competent and dedicated administration. The PTI hopes to bring ‘big bang governance’ within first 100 days of coming to power. While some of Imran’s ideas are thought provoking, his unending fascination for short deadlines to resolve complicated problems has been variously characterised as simplistic, unrealistic or even an exercise in political gimmickry.
In the seminar on electricity held last year, Imran pledged to ease the energy crisis in two years. He suggested a big reduction in circular debt by increasing tariff collection from the present 78 percent to 95 percent which alone would save Rs 300 billion a year. He proposed to generate some 4,500 MW through cheaper imported coal. Here too Imran depended much on his ‘big bang governance’. It was conveniently forgotten that the country was deficient in gas and oil and hydroelectric power generation had become a divisive political issue on account of mistrust among the provinces. Dependence on governance alone without being able to create the necessary consensus will hardly help in constructing dams.
The Economic Policy Vision introduced in October last year took up challenging tasks. It promised to tackle the energy crisis, cut back government expenses and initiate tax-cum-civil service reforms. Health and education services were to be further extended. Imran may not find the task of convincing the military to reduce its budget a cake walk.
The economic policy advocated a robust regulatory role for the government plus a more direct involvement of the state through professionally managed state-owned enterprises. Many think the challenge is worth taking up though few are sure of its success. Imran is not clear how he would implement revenue reforms with assemblies dominated by vested interest deadly opposed to land reforms or agricultural tax. Another onerous task is the enforcement of GST and taxing the real estate tycoons and the stock exchange manipulators.
The nine-point industrial policy is the latest in the series. The PTI promises to revive economy and eradicate corruption besides creating 10 million jobs through skill development programmes in a country where there is hardly any wherewithal for imparting skills at this scale. It wants to revive the industrial sector and restore the confidence of investors without any clear cut policy or commitment to eliminate terrorism. The deadline: 90 days.
